A stately 138-year-old oak tree in the northeast Manatee County community of Parrish is for sale, and it comes with a four-bedroom, two-bath ranch-style home on 1.3 acres built in 1974. The list price is $215,000.

The question, of course, is how can anyone know the age of a tree?

“Parrish is a small community,” says listing agent Abigail Altier of Preferred Shore Real Estate. “The guy who originally built the four houses in that block still lives in Parrish and he’s passed along the information to buyers through the years.”

The community is not so small anymore, of course, as more than 23,000 homes are planned for future development. It’s especially appealing to families with one spouse who works in Tampa or St. Petersburg and the other who works in Sarasota because of its access to I-75. Among the major new communities is the 6,000-acre North River Ranch, which recently announced it has sold its first 13 homes out of an eventual 6,000.

“Between the brand-new high school and the fact that Manatee County is running out of buildable land, people who want the conveniences of Lakewood Ranch amenities but don’t want to pay the [Community Development District] fees are flocking to Parrish,” says Altier.

Altier’s listing, at 12120 71^st St. E., is located in “old Parrish,” just off the part of U.S. 301 that has a small commercial district, a block from the local YMCA branch with a couple of barbecue restaurants, shops and churches nearby.  She says this property may especially appeal to “first-time homebuyers or people looking for a nice amount of land without being in the middle of nowhere.”

And people who love trees.